Only My Brother
by Giacinta
Summary: Dean is with Lisa but all he can focus on is getting Sam out of the Cage. Season six, goes AU. Gen. Brotherly love.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter One

:::::::::::::::::::::

Dean wasn't sure what made him glance up at that precise moment, but glance up he did, just in time to see a nondescript puce-coloured Honda streak by, overtaking him at top speed as he was gearing up to take the turn into Lisa's drive-way.

The car wouldn't have held his attention for more than a second if not for the glimpse he got of the driver's curiously familiar silhouette. It made his heart still for a second before resuming its regular beat.

"Sammy!' his soul cried out, but Sam was in the Cage and couldn't hear.

He exhaled heavily, passing a trembling hand over his eyes. Even weirdly shaped bushes and trees were beginning to take on Sam's semblances, let alone car-divers!

Everywhere he looked, Sam was there staring back at him, at times with a dimpled smile, at times sporting a worried frown, or worst of all with his young face twisted up in the throes of agony.

:

Dean had foolishly thought it would become easier with the passing months; that fulfilling the promise Sam had extracted from him would compensate in some way for allowing his little brother's self-sacrificing leap into the pit.

Yeah, well shit to that!

If he could turn back the clock, he would change everything. Never would he let Sam precipitate into the dark eternity of torture at Lucifer's hands; the friggin' world could burn first!

:

It was no use kidding himself.

He'd been to hell, he knew the score, and the images of his little brother suffering like he had at Alastair's hands, kept him from falling asleep each night and caused him to scream himself awake from horrific nightmares whenever his exhausted body switched itself off in desperation.

Lisa would hold him then as she would a child, shushing him softly, and he was grateful for her touch, but she could do nothing to fill the missing part of his soul that cried out for Sam.

:

He pulled into the drive-way. Lisa had said she'd be late home tonight so Dean had shopped for the ingredients to cook up spaghetti with meatballs and tomato sauce.

He'd found that cooking soothed him, though perhaps the series of shots of whisky he gulped down as he fussed around the kitchen helped a lot.

:

Dean had been trying, trying really hard, but he knew the time had come to leave.

Lisa had taken a broken stranger into her home and into her bed and he was grateful to her.

Sure, he and Sam had saved her son from the changelings, but still….

:

He felt like a bastard at the realisation that what had truly kept him here so long had been the promise made to Sam to go and live the apple-pie life.

Staying with Lisa had also given him the opportunity to store and consult the ever increasing pile of books and papers he was sifting through trying find a way to rescue Sam from the Cage.

So far he hadn't had any success. There was no precedent for getting a human out, but as long as he lived he'd never stop trying.

'Trying' was his new best friend. All he did recently was try, but staying here was getting him nowhere.

Maybe on his own, he'd do better.

:

When Lisa came home that evening, she took one look at him and at the perfectly set table and she knew.

"You're leaving, aren't you?"

Dean stared in surprise, upset to have to address the question so quickly. He'd wanted to tell her later, after dinner, when Ben had gone to bed.

He didn't know if he had the courage to face the boy.

"Uh, yeah," he said feeling like a douche, but he'd made up his mind and nothing was going to change it, nothing Lisa could say anyway.

:

She shrugged off her jacket, letting it drop onto the couch.

"Can't say I wasn't expecting it."

:

Dean came around the table towards her.

"I'm sorry," he began but Lisa took a step back.

"Yeah. Me too. But if you're gonna leave, just... go, Dean. Don't drag things out even more. It makes it all the more difficult."

Dean hesitated, studying her. This wasn't going as he'd planned but Lisa's expression was firm.

"Okay, if that's what you want."

:

She sighed then, her face crumpling.

"No, it's not what**_ I_** want, but then it's never been about that has it? Whatever brought you here, it wasn't because you loved me or wanted to build a life with us.

Before you go, will you tell me why you came, Dean? The true reason."

:

Dean was torn between answering and lying, but she deserved the truth, so he tried to be as gentle as he could.

"Sam asked me to. He thought it was what I wanted. He needed to know I'd have someone to look out for me after he was gone. He made me promise to come to you and live a normal life."

She nodded. "Why doesn't that surprise me?"

"I'm sorry, Lisa. Truly. You deserved better."

:

"It doesn't matter, Dean," she said tiredly.

"I'd convinced myself that maybe with time you'd settle down, that Sam would fade a little in your memory, enough for us to become a real family, but that could never be, could it? I was kidding myself.

I listened to you all those nights calling out to him through your nightmares.

I don't know what it is that binds you so strongly to each other that even death can't sever. All I know is that Ben and I can't compete with Sam."

:

She turned and walked out of the room, but not before Dean saw her eyes glaze over.

He gave the set table one last look, went to the garage and ran a hand over the Impala's gleaming body. He'd already transferred his stuff to the trunk. He was ready to go.

"I guess it's you and me now baby until we get Sammy back."

The car remained silent but Dean couldn't deny the irrational burst of hope that filled him. Maybe tomorrow would be the day he'd get his brother back.

TBC


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two.

::::::::::::::::::::::

The motel he'd chosen wasn't far from Lisa's. Dean couldn't quite bring himself to leave the area until he was sure she and Ben were adjusting to his absence.

It didn't make any difference where he was anyway, and he'd become familiar with the little city and its facilities.

:

One of the two beds was covered with the books Dean had brought with him. He swore he wasn't going to leave this place until he had Sam riding shotgun in the Impala again.

But as the days passed and nothing new was forthcoming, Dean began to give in to despair.

What if he never succeeded?

If Sam never got out of the Cage then when Dean died, he'd be on his own, no shared heaven or shared hell. Dean wasn't too picky where they ended up, as long as Sam was with him.

But for all the progress he was making, Dean was looking to be alone for all eternity, with Sammy remaining Lucidfer's chew-toy for the same time-period!

He needed a break, he needed a shower, he needed caffeine but most of all he needed Sam.

Dean didn't know it then, but sometimes the universe does answer one's prayers!

:

Adequately caffeinated and with his stomach full of hamburger, Dean pointed the Impala towards Lisa's. He'd kept one of the spare keys in case he'd forgotten something; which he had.

The book he'd been reading the night before he'd left for good had remained in the bedroom.

The house would be empty at this hour, early afternoon. He'd rush in, get the book and shag ass before Lisa or Ben came home.

:

A car was sitting at the side-walk when he approached. It looked familiar though he couldn't place it.

As he drew nearer to the house, the car roared into life and took off as if it had the devil on its tail

"Huh," Dean murmured to himself, his mind rapidly running though the cars owned by Lisa's acquaintances but he couldn't recall any of then owning a run-down Honda.

Then he remembered.

It had shot by him once, on the day he'd left Lisa, when he thought the driver had seemed familiar.

:

He watched as the Honda turned the corner out of sight, and no-one was more surprised than himself when his foot pushed down on the gas pedal and speeded after it.

The driver obviously knew his way around. As the car made its way though the town Dean almost lost sight of it a couple of times

He got the feeling Honda-dude knew he was being followed and was trying to lose him.

Well, two could play at that game.

:

Dean dropped back letting a few cars overtake him, until the yellow Honda was just a speck in the distance.

He brought up a map of the streets in his mind.

They were on the outskirts of the city, in one of the seedier neighbourhoods, filled with low-level bars and take-aways.

By this time he'd lost sight of the Honda but something told him this area was where it had been heading. He'd cruise the surrounding streets and unless the car had been stashed in a garage, he might get lucky.

:

After a fruitless search of the shabby neighbourhood he was ready to give up.

"The search for what?" he grunted out loud, annoyed with himself. " I'm wasting my 'effin' time looking for a car I've no idea why the hell I should be looking for in the first place!"

That was when he spoted it, tucked away in a side-alley outside a bar.

"Gottcha! " Dean said gleefully.

He wondered at himself, getting a rise out of following some crappy car when he should be researching, but maybe it was the fact that his research was at a complete standstill that made wasting his time with a Honda, of all things, seem exciting.

:

Maybe it was time for him to get back to hunting.

He hadn't made contact with anyone from that world, not even Bobby since that terrible day in Stull Cemetery but perhaps others might notice some detail he was missing.

At this point he was willing to take suggestions from anyone to get Sam back.

:

Castiel had disappeared too. Probably back to heaven.

Not that Dean cared; he was royally pissed off at the angel. Someone had seen fit to bring Castiel back to life while no-one had stepped in to rescue his baby brother from Lucifer's clutches.

Friggin' angels! He never thought he could hate anything more than demons, but at least you knew what to expect from them.

Angels were the true dicks of Creation, each with their own little agenda that they studiously kept from you, just to fuck you over!

:

He cruised past and parked a few blocks down the street, then made his way back to the Honda.

Whoever the owner was, he sure had bad taste in cars.

:

He examined it briefly before walking to the run-down bar that stood a few doors on.

There were a couple of guys leaning against the wall, they barely glanced at him, their eyes blood-shot with god knows what crap they'd sniffed along with the liquor he could smell coming off them.

He pushed against the door and went inside where he was greeted by a haze of smoke.

If there was a no smoking law, it certainly wasn't respected in this place. That said, it looked clean enough, better than the outside would have you expect.

:

He looked around before strolling up to the counter, aware of the eyes watching him as he passed. He even heard a whistle directed his way!

The skinny guy behind the counter gave him an appreciative once over. "What can I do for you, handsome? " he cooed.

Dean raised an eye-brow.

"Uh. A beer is all I need plus some information," he added with a smile, sliding a twenty across the surprisingly well scrubbed wooden top.

"Well I can surely help you with one," the guy simpered, placing a bottle of beer in front of him. "As for the other….."

:

"Uh, right, " Dean said feeling stupid. Just because the Honda was parked nearby, didn't mean this guy knew who the owner was.

"You wouldn't know who belongs to the Honda parked down the street, would you?"

The man's eyes flickered. He knew all right.

"Who wants to know? " the barman asked in a less friendly tone. "You the law?"

"The law!" Dean laughed. " No way, man! I'm about the furthest thing from the law as you can imagine."

:

The man's face relaxed a little. "Didn't think you were. You don't give off the vibe, but I had to check."

Dean tilted his head.

"I get it, dude. No problemo! I've had to check more than once myself," he said leaning forward with a wink.

The guy winked back.

"Okay. You're not the law, so why do you want t'know who the car belongs to?"

:

Dean served up the first lie that came to mind.

"I braked at a red light and the Honda grazed my back bumper. Driver didn't stop, so I followed. I wondered if he had insurance, if not maybe he could pay me the repair out of his own pocket."

Skinny guy snorted. "I doubt anyone around here has car insurance and if you want your car fixed you're gonna have to fork out on your own, cos the owner doesn't have more than the clothes he stands up in. Guy can barely pay the rent."

"So you know who he is?"

"Yeah, but I'm not sayin'. I like the kid. Don't want to make any trouble for him."

"Okay, maybe if I could talk to him, we might manage to work something out…." Dean said, stopping when skinny guy looked past him to the door.

:

Dean turned, just in time to get an eye-full of the man whose face had been occupying his every waking and sleeping moment since Stull Cemetery.

He saw the recognition dawn in the moss-green eyes before the kid turned and headed back out, with Dean close on his heels.

"Sam," he cried out desperately. "Sammy! Come back here!"

:

To be cont.


End file.
